The book a score of 9 out of 10 and praised its art, storytelling, and surrealism. ( )

Great art! ( )

Interesting, but I think I would have liked it more had Henson ever been able to have made a film out of it. ( )

This graphic novel was a total trip - so much so that it’s kind of pointless to try to describe it adequately. It seems on the surface like a simple adventure story with an unwitting protagonist, but his mad-cap journey through the desert only to end up back at the town which he left originally is definitely an allegory for self-discovery in the grand tradition of Don Quixote. Paired with luscious illustrations by Ramon Perez, this book is definitely one of the most captivating graphic novels that I’ve read in a long time. I’m a bit disappointed that Hensen and Juhl never managed to shop this story to a willing production studio, but I’m not entirely sure that they could have done as much with a physical interpretation of the script - budgets and effects limits being what they are - as the no-limits of the graphic novel medium. ( )

I won't lie to you, I don't know what happened exactly but I enjoyed it. ( )

This was a very very very strange book. The illustrations were great and that's why it got the two stars. Other than that not a lot of words and it was very confusing. I had no idea what it was about and at the end I guess it's a loop? Definitely a weird read. ( )

Genre: Graphic Novel
Short Summary: This book is a graphic novel adaptation of an un-produced screenplay. The surreal, abstract story is more about moods and feelings than actions, although there is some riveting action. Some of the action even makes sense! Our main character is on some kind of quest through the desert. Neither he nor the reader know why him, or why the quest exists, or if there's any purpose to the apparently random items in his backpack. Smoking is clearly an important thread in the narrative, but it's hard for this 2015 reader to get past modern associations with cigarettes to get to what it was meant to mean in the book.

I strongly suspect this story/experience would have worked much better as a film than it did as a graphic novel. The graphic novel was difficult to follow; adding a sound track might have made clearer what was going on, and how the disparate pieces fit together. The characters had remarkable depth, especially given how few words are used in this work. The artists conveyed a lot of movement and flow, giving a sense of urgency or calm as the story developed. I'd love to see how a modern director would produce this work, maybe a big animation house like Pixar, or even some indie group or individual using all CGI animation.
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Beautiful art and a superbly produced book. The story, what little there is of it, is art-school stuff, but Perez illustrates it very dynamically. ( )

The Jim Henson estate discovered a long-lost screenplay written by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl. It was never realized into a movie but the estate worked with publisher Archaia to turn it into a graphic novel. I read it twice to get a handle on it; the story is odd and dark like a nightmare. A stranger is caught up in a small town's jubilant celebration and suddenly finds himself the unwitting center of its dark ritual. The sheriff hands him a map, tells him to head for Eagle Mountain (but "don't trust the map"), and he gets a ten-minute head start. The stranger doesn't understand, but he takes off running. He realizes that a eye-patched man is tracking him through the Southwestern desert with the intent to kill. During the pursuit, the stranger has odd visions, close calls, and is chased by Arabs and football players. It's all very strange and the eye-patched man is not who he seems to be. An allegory about our personal demons? The dark doubts that cripple us? The internal battles we fight everyday? It could be all that and anything else. ( )

While the artwork is endlessly fascinating, the story -- well, lack thereof -- is atrocious. I'm not sure why anyone would think that a lost screenplay would make for a good graphic novel. ( )

If nothing else this work is a piece of art. The concept itself is very surreal and heady, the artwork is is stunning, especially the colors, which are just brilliant and very bold. It's certainly not something to delve into if one is looking for a narrative, or even much of a story, reading much more like one watching Avant-garde film. All of which makes sense considering the context. ( )

Tale of Sand is the graphic novel adaptation of a screenplay by Muppet-creator, Jim Henson. It's mostly billed as an homage to the late, great visionary and it shows the mark of Henson's dreamy and surrealist conceits.

The strongest thing about the graphic novel is the artistry brought by Ramón Pérez. His character designs are a perfect blend of almost Warner Brothers extension cartoony with some grounded realistic anatomy and sense of balance. The expressions and scenes carry this largely wordless journey and, although there are scenes you can tell were always meant for film, he adapts them in a way that feels organic to this adaptation. For example, the prospector-like person who never stops talking having his background chatter spill out of the word balloon, or the juxtaposition of some unrelated scenes to represent the chaotic pellmell of the chase scenes.

Henson, when at his best, would have delivered a rich and memorable world surrounding this story, but the script is not his strongest work. It delivers the visuals but lacks a certain heart in his characters' reasons (or even a concrete lack of reasons), and while you are interested in seeing how the journey progresses, you are not invested in discovering the hows and whys of what's going on. And when all the goings on end, you're not quite sure what happened. It's still engaging, but if the art wasn't a gorgeous as Ramón Pérez's, the readability would be severely hampered.

Definitely a read for Henson fans and those who enjoy trippy post-modern concepts. Definitely read for Ramón Pérez's beautiful artwork. But I think most readers who are looking for a dreamlike story with surrealist elements might be disappointed in Tale of Sand's unsustainable influence, which delights while you're in the middle of it, but seems to slip through your mind once you put it down. ( )

Reminded me of Sandman a little, the other-worldly, dreamlike nature of the narrative. The art is really top notch too. ( )

A rather sophomoric script by the late Jim Henson brought to life by clean, interesting graphics with good use of space, frame, and color. Fragments of Henson's typed and amended text appear in some sequences, to good effect. Fun for an afternoon; not a work for the ages. ( )

I picked this up at the library because I like Jim Henson and I liked the style of the artist, Ramon Perez. I flipped through it (dialog heavy, this is not). Then I read through it. Then I read through it again, stopping to stare for several minutes at every page. By the end of the 4th re-reading, I thought I was beginning to pick out what the heck was going on.

This story, in the style of cult classics everywhere, can only be really apreciated by repeated exposure. Every time you go back to it, new details become apparent, new plot twists emerge to engage you, and new ideas broaden your understanding. ( )

Reflecting upon the varied yet consistent work of Jim Henson, culminating in his Tale of Sand, I've come to realize I've never been disappointed in any of his productions. That’s really astounding, given the breadth of his creativity and talent for dreamy and adventurous escapism.

Like any of his works, we are fortunate to have Tale of Sand. This newly unearthed manuscript developed with collaborator Jerry Juhl could have been easily lost in the production company archives and remained undiscovered or simply disregarded. Thankfully it wasn’t, as it is quintessential Henson, and perfectly adapted for a graphic novel. I'll say no more than it tells the story of Mac, an everyman who inexplicably finds himself in the American southwest, unusually equipped and on-the-run through a series of surreality and improbable adventure. Henson provides little detail as to the motive of his chase or the background of supporting characters, but these details are ultimately unimportant. Like many great tales, this one is about Mac and his journey rather than the destination or circumstances. As such with Henson's unique vision, his characters are designed to personally identify with the reader, and particularly so in Tale of Sand. Whether it be strange, frightening, or even humorous, there is always another door to walk through, some new wonder to behold.

That this screenplay, rejected by numerous film studios, has been adapted for a graphic novel can only be fortuitous. It is a most natural medium for the story, told through the lens of Ramón Pérez whose artwork provides a stunning southwestern ambience; his inspired, bold sketches are aglow with blistering, white-hot desert-scapes contrasted against an ever present golden-hued horizon, somewhere in time of the early twentieth century. Pérez excels in his paneling, for as frantic as Mac's journey is, so is the reader's journey across the page. The layout often reverts between extended linear, entwining and blending of panels, wherein the reader can become deliberately lost in the progression of the page. Calm desert scenes with nothing more than observant iguanas give way to raucous chase, heavy-duty explosions and action sequences involving Ray Nitschke and Bedouin sultans of all things, requiring the reader to give careful pause before moving on. Perfect sequencing to realize Henson's imaginative and joyous sense of the bizarre. The only issue I see is whether Perez's oversized visualization will be effectively adapted for digital readers within a standard screen to fully accommodate the entirety of the page.

A brief imaginary excursion, Tale of Sand is perfect for those just becoming acquainted with Jim Henson's passion for storytelling. At the same time, the tale is a fitting, bittersweet farewell, his genius of creativity on full display. ( )